New Year's Day
by Me8
Summary: Fueled by a woman's premonition, Chloe makes her way to Metropolis to be in Clark's arms by the first stroke of the new year, only, Clark has left the building... Lex' building.UPDATED! Chloe meets up with Clark Lana and Stella and Lex can't seem to stop
1. Default Chapter

New Year's Day.  
  
Disclaimer: Come on, if I owned them wouldn't I be putting all this work and effort into actual episodes of the show?  
  
Rating: PG for now.  
  
Pairing: Chloe/Lex  
  
A/N: I know I've been away long and I have an unfinished fic. But I'm working on cleaning it up so it's more kid friendly, and then I'll re-post it. But until then, here's New Year's Day for yah. Enjoy.  
  
Chapter 1.  
  
"OK Chloe, don't freak out." She said to herself, but it wasn't working because her chest grew tight and heavy, her head started to ache, her eyes were doing crazy crazy things and her breathing was becoming labored.  
  
This was not how she had expected her day to turn out. And it had better not be the way it ended, not after what Stella had told her about what could happen tonight. This could be the night of the rest of her life. The night she would find out who her true love was. But to how the day was shaping out, it seemed as if her only true love was herself.  
  
Let's start from the beginning of all the craziness. this morning. Chloe had started her day outside of home at the Talon with a nice, steamy cup of rich, creamy coffee, a bagel, and a psychic reading from Smallville's new clairvoyant.  
  
Stella Harris had been in town for the past month and a half and had already garnered quite a reputation and a spot on Chloe's popular "Wall of Weird". She was a beautiful woman of gypsy descent who had opened up a quaint little shop with a beautiful sign out front proclaiming the work to be found inside.  
  
In about a week of being in town, she had helped the police solve a case about a missing boy who had gone to school on the bus one morning four days ago and hadn't returned home because his gym-coach, who was supposed to be institutionalized had kidnapped him and had been holding him hostage in an abandoned cottage deep in the woods. Since then she had helped with about a dozen other cases, all of which she had, previous to coming here, no knowledge of. Hearing all this about the woman had of course made Chloe quite curious, but unfortunately for her, Stella refused any interviews from anyone.  
  
So when she had sat suddenly across from Chloe earlier that day, Chloe had been very surprised to say the least.  
  
Looking curiously at the older woman who stared unflinchingly into her eyes, Chloe had asked, "Is something wrong?" She had had to repeat the question as the woman had continued staring, as if she hadn't heard what she had said.  
  
She finally spoke, and in a voice rich with an accent Chloe could not discern. "Today is the eve of a brand new year for most. But it is also the eve of a brand new life for you. But only." A pause. "Only if you spend the last second of this year and the first of the next in the arms of your destined soulmate." Chloe hadn't even had time to ask her what she was talking about because as soon as she had finished speaking, she had left in a flurry of skirts and bangles.  
  
Back to the present, Chloe sat on the ground of the elevator, she had calmed down considerably, but her chest still ached from its earlier death- grip. How had she gotten herself into such a big mess? Why had she even believed a word that maniac had told her? She couldn't believe she'd been so desperate for Clark that she had actually driven four hours to Metropolis just to make sure his were the arms she was in for the New Year. But her plan had failed when she had shown up here because she'd been told he was probably with Lex at his office. She'd shown up here, gotten on the elevator as the stairs were closed, and was now caught. Claustrophobic, and stuck in an elevator with only ten minutes 'till twelve.  
  
"Chloe, how low can you go?" Obviously very low, as she had spent the day registering and then contemplating what Stella had said. And then she had driven all three hours it took to get to Metropolis where Clark was to visit his mom, just so she could stay around him and hug him at the stroke of midnight, which was only five minutes away. "Damn fool."  
  
*****  
  
Lex strolled out of the office and checked his watch. It was a little after eleven at night and he couldn't believe he was spending the New Year all alone.  
  
"Well, it's better than with Dad." He said out loud, smirking at his own joke. He could afford to, as he was probably the only person in the building. On any normal night of the year, cleaners and security guards would be littering the three story building that was just on the out-skirts of both Smallville and Metropolis.  
  
It was a small building compared to the huge skyscrapers that usually adorned the city's sky, but it was just the size he felt he needed for his Metropolis office.  
  
Walking toward the elevator, he pushed the button and waited for the doors to open. Seeing the building was only three feet, he usually took the stairs, but the staff had already locked them.  
  
He pushed the button once again cursed when the door didn't open. It was in the wake of that curse when he heard her. It was the voice of a woman. And it sounded as if she was trapped inside.  
  
Setting down his briefcase quickly, he used his hands to push open the door and looked down at the top of the lift about four feet below the floor. Taking action, he jumped on top, opened the escape door and jumped inside.  
  
*****  
  
Chloe looked up from her reverie to see Lex Luthor standing beside her. A tortured 'No' was all she could manage as he scooped her off the floor and the elevator clock screamed, "It's 12:00 o'clock A.M."  
  
  
  
So. What did yah think? Yah like so far? Hit me with some reviews and if you like it, I'll write more. 


	2. Two: Who's Stella?

Hey guys. Sorry I took so long to update, but I have no pute at my home (it crashed and is currently being fixed or hopefully replaced) so I have to be waiting until I get over to my brother's house like once every two weeks for about an hour or so to write. Please be patient until I get my computer back, then I can post to my heart's content.  
  
Secondly, in the last chapter, there were a few errors, like a paragraph that I was supposed to delete but I didn't remember to. My brain comes and goes sometimes so please bear with me. (he he)  
  
Oh, and to the girl who asked the question about the timing and stuff. It's all good, don't worry.  
  
Enjoy.  
  
Chapter Two.  
  
Lex placed Chloe on the cleared desk nearest to them. He had just finished lifting them from the elevator shaft, and he was afraid she was unconscious. Her eyes were shut tighter than Hannibal's cage and her face was pale, although that was to be expected from what she had gone through.  
  
Truth be told, Chloe was fine. physically anyway. But every other was there was, she was a complete wreck. She was literally in shock. She couldn't figure out why her completely sane (OK, well not so sane) plan had gone bust. It had all been pretty logical, drive to Metropolis and hug Clark at midnight. But noooo. Being Chloe, she had had to be trapped in a three- floored elevator and saved by Lex Luthor who just happened to be holding her at "12:00 o'clock am" Coupled with the fact that she had just literally had the biggest shock of her entire life (if you didn't count the time when. that isn't relevant), she was keeping her eyes shut until further notice.  
  
Further notice being when she had the sudden knowledge of a mouth descending way too close to hers. Opening an eye she saw Lex about to kiss her.  
  
"Whoa mister!" She exclaimed jumping off the opposite side of the table and landing on her shin. "Ouch," At least now they had a table separating them.  
  
"Your conscious?!"  
  
"OF COURSE I'M CONCIOUS. WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?"  
  
"I thought I was giving cpr to an unconscious teenager," His voice put a really heavy emphasis on that last word. But Chloe still wasn't buying it.  
  
"Aren't you supposed to do the chest pump thing first?" Or did you just want to kiss me? She asked that last part unconsciously. Things were getting creepy now.  
  
Lex smirked, wanting to tell her she shouldn't flatter herself, but not wanting to make her any more agitated with him until he found out for sure she was OK.  
  
"Chloe, I wasn't a cub scout of any sort. Usually in these types of situations. I'm not there. Or I have an oxygen tank to my left and the emergency speed-dial to my right."  
  
"Well this situation proved you bereft of both now didn't it." OK, where am I going with this?  
  
"Exactly," He said, suspecting she had had nothing else to say so she'd just blabbered something. She always proved to be an interesting conversationalist, even when she was half-crazy from post-claustrophobia.  
  
"Where is Clark?" She asked the question before she could stop herself. She didn't need him to know why she was there. Although she guessed he would have either asked or had figured it out already by himself.  
  
"Is he why you're here, Chloe?" He had always liked asking the obvious. It made people squirm, and he liked that.  
  
"Answer the bloody question, Lex." She said, making it quite clear she didn't want to play twenty questions.  
  
"Touché."  
  
"Sorry."  
  
Lex smiled. "Clark is with Martha," He wanted to prolong this as long as possible.  
  
"Good," what good could it do her now? The New Year had already seen her in the arms of Lex. Looking up at him, she asked if he could give her directions as to where to find them.  
  
"Yeah. It's about a hundred and seventy miles south of here in a place called Smallville."  
  
Her eyes widened to the size of lemons. "What?"  
  
Helping her off the ground where she had still been sitting he told her that her father had flown them back to the farm just a few hours before so that Clark and his mother and father could spend the new year together.  
  
"It was a very shocking thing to hear, but I guess being blind has made my father a little more compassionate." Yeah right, Lex thought, he probably only sent Martha away so she wouldn't catch wind of some illegal thing he was up to.  
  
But Chloe didn't catch the last part, as her brain was still stuck on Clark being in Smallville. Oh what a cruel hand fate had dealt her. Not only did it turn out that she was destined to spend her life with a man it would be impossible to have a relationship with, but, the man she had thought. and wanted to be with, she had had absolutely no chance of having.  
  
"Chloe, are you OK?" He asked her, her face had suddenly become very pale.  
  
"Yeah," She really needed to get out of here. Away from Lex. "Look, Lex thank you for saving me, but I have to go." She got up to walk away.  
  
"Go where?" He asked her.  
  
"To Smallville, where do you thin. shite." (A/N: yeah that's right shite, this is a PG fic after all) she slapped her forehead with her hand and was rewarded by a sharp tremor of pain. Why did she let that slip? Now he knew she had nowhere to go, and she had to go stay at his place.  
  
"You are not driving back." She cut him off abruptly, already knowing what he was going to say and what would come out of the conversation.  
  
"Yeah yeah. Come on, I'm tired." She started towards the door. "Your penthouse better had better have an extra room, because contrary to what Stella might think, I am not sleeping in the same bed as you." Shite. She hit her head again.  
  
Lex walked silently behind her with a grin on his face. She was a refreshing girl. When he heard her last words and saw her hit her head again because she let something slip that she shouldn't have, he vowed to find out who 'Stella' was.  
  
  
  
Hey, there's your latest chapter. If you like, review and I'll write again as soon as possible. Thank you for the reviews you've sent so far. They're very encouraging and appreciated. 


	3. Chapter 3

_I'll be keeping this very A/U, as unfortunately I have not been able to keep up with the show seeing how I've moved to where a tv is a foreign concept. But fret not thyself, it is only temporary._

_Your reviews are truly the only reason I am continuing this because I am really pressed for time. Bear with me if I have to quickly move the events away from the date it was first written in to something closer to our own time and space._

Chapter Three

The ride to the apartment should have provided Chloe time to think. Time to rationalize and develop a plan of action. But did it? No. Why? Because Lex spent the whole time trying to murder her.

Chloe was literally glued to the passenger seat as he sped through the empty city streets. He tried to explain to her that it was abandoned because everybody was gathered in the square to celebrate the New Year, but she really couldn't hear above her silent screaming and the loud gnarl of the engine.

It was all she could do to stop herself from kissing the ground when he finally came to a stop before the tower of Babel. The hotel, called 'The Luthor' must surely touch the sky, it looked to Chloe as though it was up into the stratosphere, and inside was everything a business/luxury hotel should be.

As he led her to the elevator, he watched carefully her face, which only just seemed to be regaining colour, to see if she would have any trepidation.

"I'm fine, Lex. And I'm not an invalid so you can take your arm from off my elbow." When he wouldn't let go at first, she turned to him to see a mischievous look on his face. She had the sudden urge to box him, the only thing that stopped her was that he had pulled her out of the elevator. Wait… that gives her reason….

"What were you doing at my office tonight, Chloe?" He asked as the elevator closed its doors behind them.

She had her head propped against the glass of the lift and flopped it to face him as she said, "I came to wish you 'Happy New Year'."

He smiled at her wit. "I could just get you drunk and find out later."

She flew her hands in a frustrated gesture. "You don't know how to behave around minors do you? First you try to kiss me, now you try to get me drunk. What next, you plan to have me hooked on opium?"

"Don't be silly, marijuana is a much quicker route." He said with a smirk on his face.

Chloe sighed her exasperation and looked around herself, wondering if there wasn't some way to reenact the night's events with Clark in place of the nonentity beside her.

"Seriously, what were you doing there?" Their banter had bought her enough time for a reasonable lie.

"I was visiting my cousin and decided to drop by to wish Clark a Happy New Year."

Unfortunately, her lie wasn't reasonable at all.

"I though you didn't have a place to say in Metropolis." His brows furrowed slightly but his mouth's sardonic twist showed that his was a mock concern.

"I don't. My cousin left when I did, she's gone to Portsmouth and her place is locked up."

He gave her a smile which said 'I-don't-really-believe-you-but-I'll-leave-it-at-that-'cause-we've-reached-the-penthouse-and-I-can-find-out-if-your-lying-later'.

It was obvious to Chloe that not everyone who stayed in the hotel could access the lift to the penthouse. Reason being that the lift opened right into the spacious living area of the suite. The floor was intermittent white carpet on dark wood. Very warm cushiony carpet upon very hard polished wood.

The apartment reeked of neo-age affluence, from the plasma screen TV to the avante garde art collection with the artist's names not written, but painted into the fresco, leaving their origins indiscernible.

"Leave it the sybaritic." She said under her breath.

Lex felt his patience wearing thin, she was a nice conversationalist, until she became too emboldened.

"One doesn't have to be indulgent to value art, Chloe."

"No… one just has to have a fat bank account." She put her hands up and made what would have been a seriously ugly face had she not been so cute. "Bank!"

Her teasing tone made him lighten up. He frowned to himself though, as he didn't normally get defensive about anything he liked.

"I'll show you your room." He said, and moved off without waiting to see if she followed.

The room he took her to was about twice the size of the one she had at home, and about as big as Lois' whole apartment. But it wasn't the room or its decorations that caught her eye, it was the immense, shimmering view of Metropolis. Walking toward it, she completely blocked out Lex' promise of coffee.

She could see all the city to the north. Including the square where the new years' festivities were still not showing signs of wearing down. It was a good thing she wasn't afraid of heights, for when she looked down all she could see of the road was the tiny dots of car lights, so faint they looked like fireflies.

She must have stood there for a while for the next thing she heard was the shatter of glass and a muffled curse from outside. It was then she registered his offer of coffee. It didn't take her long to find the kitchen, a spacious granite and steel supercomputer, as the smell of fresh-ground coffee helped her.

She walked in to find Lex discarding broken pieces of a white mug into the silver trash dispenser, and had a momentary lapse in which she wondered if it was made out of _real_ silver.

"It was just a cup, Chloe." He said, again slightly defensive.

This snapped her out of her reverie. "Huh?" She asked as she scratched her neck in confusion.

He looked at her dazed expression and smiled. "Sit, I'll get you some coffee."

She complied obediently and watched as he opened a cupboard full of mugs. He had rolled his sleeves up so his arms where showing, she could see faint dark hairs matted to his skin, contrasting but oddly blended to the white of his shirt. The moment lasted only as long as it took Lex to retrieve a second cup, which turned out to be two as the first one didn't match.

He turned to see Chloe looking at him with an odd expression.

She caught herself quickly though, and asked with as much concern as she could muster, "Do you have OCD?"

Lex took a time to answer. One of those times in which it is clear he's wondering whether or not that was a real question and if he should answer. "Hardly."

She blushed at her forwardness and tried to explain. "It's the cups. I have a cousin diagnosed and he does shit like that." She said, taking the cup and seeing the look he gave her for her language.

She smiled slightly. "It's Metropolis, it gets to me this way."

He was about to comment when her face lit up as she tasted the coffee.

"Wha…?"

"Blue Mountain Peak Coffee, most expensive in the world." Was he trying to impress her? He wondered. That was something he'd normally say… never. "It's grown only in the Blue Mountain district of…"

"Jamaica." She cut him off. "I thought this stuff was pure legend." She took another sip and her face took on a dreamy expression you normally see only she was she was tracking a good lead.

The coffee was the thing that got her through the rest of the night. For when she got to bed after telling Lex goodnight, it began to feel as if she ha not control over herself anymore. She was determined however, that she would have complete control over her life. A life that did not have Lex Luthor as her soulmate.

_A/N: Hit me with some reviews if you like this new chapter. It has been a long time coming I know. You can also tell me whether or not you'd like the story to continue being PG or what._


	4. Chapter 4

_Here's your new chapter. I am trying not to keep you guys waiting too long. Hope you like it. Feel free to review your comments please keep them constructive even if they're negative (hehe). And to the reviewer who commented on the summary, is this one better?_

Chloe had a rough night. Don't get it wrong, her bed wasn't lumpy and she wasn't plagued by unfriendly bed-bugs. Her discomfort was caused by a much more conspicuous source.

The truth was, the damn man could not only not keep himself out of her elevator, but her dreams as well. Bright blue images of the bald-headed fool lifting her out of the lift haunted her like a persistent mosquito. Coming back to her every time she drifted back to sleep after waking out of frustration.

The sixth time this happened she decided to stop trying. She sobbed silently, lest Lex had bionic ears or something and came flying into her room with his flipping newly developed hero complex.

THAT WAS IT! Faith had obviously mixed up Lex and Clark, which meant it had always been for Clark to come to her rescue, but faith messed up and instead she got the over-confident side-kick.

With this comforting thought, she spent the rest of the time formulating a plan.

By dawn, the only plan she had been able to come up with was;

_A: Stay far away from Lex Luthor_

_B: Formulate a way to get Clark Kent to notice beauty (inner and outer)_

Her plotting was interrupted by a soft rap on the door. Pulling the sheet up to her chin she bit her bottom lip in frustration and only told him to come in out of politeness.

Only, it wasn't Lex that entered, it was a blonde maid with a less than pleasant smile on her face.

"Morning Ms. Lane, Mr. Luthor has asked me to wake you as he wants to leave for Smallville soon." She took clothes from her little silver trolley. "I brought you back your clothes, they've been washed and ironed."

She had a slight smirk on her face with this last comment and Chloe knew exactly why as she took a look at her shirt. It was a white crushed-cotton number. You know, the kind that didn't take well to ironing.

"Le… Mr. Luthor has also asked me to inform you that breakfast will be up in ten minutes."

Chloe smiled with no real mirth. The little twit actually thought that Chloe was competition, despite the fact that they had slept in different rooms. _Was Lex sleeping with this woman? _She thought to herself. Not that that mattered, the only thing that did was that he compensated her for her damn shirt.

"Aren't you going to get out of bed?" She asked, her tone just shy of being cheeky.

Chloe bit hard to keep from retorting. "In a minute."

With nothing left to do, the maid smiled icily and left.

There were inaudible utterances from both ends of the door.

Breakfast was the biggest Chloe could remember ever having. The quantity and quality of food was one reason, the lack of talking which caused a nervousness soothed only by gluttony was another.

By the time they reached the elevator, Chloe was convinced she was going to burst open.

Lex took one look at her, and could not contain his laughter.

When he finally got a grip on himself, he said. "Don't worry, I've had the car brought to the front, we won't have to walk to the parking lot."

"Yeah, well there's still the trek through the lobby."

It didn't prove to be that bad though, as she made it safely into the car and had enough strength and air to beg Lex not to drive too fast.

They were about a mile from the hotel when Chloe decided to get it off her chest.

"I don't know if you noticed, but, your maid destroyed my shirt." Ok, so she was big enough to admit that it wasn't really the shirt, but the situation that had her so testy. At least she was big enough to admit it to herself.

He gave her a sideways look of incredulity. "It looks fine to me."

"It's supposed to be crushed-cotton. She ironed it. Everybody knows you don't iron crushed cotton."

He smiled and told her he'd compensate.

"No, it's fine. It's just the principle, and the common sense. Do you believe I almost had to throw her out of the room? I think she wanted to see if I was naked under the sheets."

"Really?" He asked her with amusement in his voice.

"Yeah."

"Were you?" Was he flirting with her now? He wondered.

A defensive, "No!" _Liar_ (truth was, the only clothes she found were his and she chose not to wear one of his shirts to bed)Then after a pause, "Are you sleeping with her?" She really hadn't been able to stop herself.

Lex laughed, he actually laughed. Then he looked at her and asked, "What warrants a question like that?"

"Just curiosity." It seemed the more they talked, the less angry and the more bold she became.

He was still smiling when he answered. "I'll answer you if you answer one of my questions."

She contemplated this for a while and then agreed.

"Why were you really in Metropolis?"

"I already told you I was visiting a cousin. What, you don't believe me?" She asked, actually hurt and appalled that he didn't.

"No. Seeing there are a few ends you left untied."

"Like what!" She really didn't see where her story lapsed.

"For instance, where's your luggage. If you were staying with your cousin, you must have had clothes, and secondly, how were you going to get home.

The same way I got to Metropolis Lex, the bus." It was true, her car was in the shop back in Smallville.

"And the luggage?" He was impressed by her quickness.

"When I got to Metropolis first, I lost it all, I had to wear Lois' clothes the whole trip."

"And your laptop?" He knew she barely went anywhere without it.

"I left it, Lois wanted us to bond." _The lies, oh the lies. _"It's your turn to answer my question."

"I should have put a truth clause into that agreement." He said.

"Oh, bite me." She said in anger. She regretted it though as the look he gave, one half playful and one half threateningly seductive had her blushing for the next two miles.

The rest of the trip wasn't as bad, as they spent most of the time listening to his CD's, a few of them Chloe actually liked, and talking about politics and Freddy Mercury (both coming to the conclusion that they would agree to disagree).

He was beginning to find her alacritous and well informed, not just nosy and overbearing. She was beginning to find him human and approachable, not just a spoilt playboy with a mind like a steel-trap.

They were beginning to think that maybe they could be friends.

_Well, hope you liked it. I will try to gradually take it into higher ratings but first, I would like to know if it would be ok for me to make this really A/U. In terms of leaving out all the 'superman' stuff and just focusing on the fic as a love story not outweighed by Clark Kent's alien life._


	5. Chapter 5

_Here's your new chapter. I know I might be a little slow on the romance section, but please, believe me, the culmination will justify the wait if plain hanging on doesn't._

_P.S. One half of chapter on Chloe the other on Lex_

Chapter Five

Chloe felt slightly akin to how she had felt in the elevator last night. Her chest was trying in sporadic spasms, to crush her heart to a bleeding pulp.

She desperately wished she hadn't told Lex goodbye and walked into the Talon. That way, she could still be lightheartedly talking about inconsequential people. That way she could be in the passenger seat of a car with a driver who would go as fast as she told him to. That way she wouldn't have to see this.

Lord only knows why it was affecting her so, it wasn't the first time she had seen it; Clark and Lana starring so intently at each other they were almost positively burning extra holes into their retinas.

It didn't matter that Lana had a serious relationship going on with somebody else. Nor did it matter that they had tried and already failed at a relationship of their own. So why should it matter that Chloe had rode three hundred miles to Metropolis? Why should it matter that her inner turmoil was threatening to pull her face apart twitch by twitch.

It didn't… at least not until they both turned around and saw her. That's when the guilt set in, and if it was one thing she hated, it was the predictable look of guilt on both of their faces. After all this time, and everything that had happened they still looked at her that way. But did she give them any reason not to?

"Chloe," Clark called her name. He had learned quicker than Lana how to hide the look behind his eyes. Clark was a good secret keeper.

"Hello Clark, Lana." She greeted them and walked forward, her small white teeth showing a smile that didn't reach her eyes. A smile they as always didn't notice.

"Where were you last night?" Lana asked. "I called to wish you happy New Year and no one answered the phone.

She shrugged and gave another smile. "I must have missed it in the excitement." Desperate to change the subject, (perhaps to Torture Methods 101), she asked. "So, when did you get back from Metropolis, Clark?"

"Last night actually. Lionel flew me and my mom out so we could…"

_Blah blah blah, blah blah blah_. Chloe thought. It was then that they heard it. First, the increase of outside frequencies as the door swung open, then the clanging of tiny bells indicative of Smallville's very own gypsy-psychic.

Chloe felt her discomfort change to irritation, and she excused herself from her friends/concentration camp leaders.

Chloe saw a wry smile play across the woman's lips and felt her anger begin to form.

"I knew you would come." Stella said, her voice held all the truth of her words.

"Did you see that in your crystal ball too?" Chloe stood above her, feeling a bit more in control by doing so.

Ah, you are angry. You didn't get what you expected last night." It was a statement, nothing more.

"Do you find this amusing?" Chloe's words were short and clipped.

Stella looked at her as if she were a belligerent child and said in an accent made even thicker by a growing temper. "Please sit, let me tell you something."

Chloe ignored the command. "Why did you tell me that yesterday?"

Stella ignored her right back. "I do not spend my time weaving amusing stories into people's lives, Chloe. I see what happens and I tell it where I'm told."

"I will never love Lex, we are from two different worlds. And…" She trailed off. Chloe looked at her intently. "_You tell it where you're told_? Are you working with Lionel Luthor? Is this some kind of warped, round-about way of enacting revenge?" _OK Chloe… that makes no sense._

Stella looked at her as if she were the most peculiar creature. "I can see why he finds you so amusing."

"Forget that. But did you hear what I said?" Then with a smile filled with confidence in the way the world turned. "I will never fall in love with Lex. We can not be meant for each other." She stole a look to the counter where Lana and Clark were still eye-balling each other.

Stella followed her gaze. "I see… you think you're already in love."

Chloe looked at her, her anger helplessly dissipating. "I'm not in love… I'm…" Then, on the verge of tears, she took a deep breath of composure.

When this didn't work, her head collapsed in her hands for a second before she fixed Stella with a pained look, her face contorting as a stubborn tear ran down one cheek.

"Why have you complicated my life?" Not until this moment did Chloe admit to herself that she believed Stella.

Stella stood and put Chloe in her seat, so she faced away from Clark, and sat in the adjoining one.

"Do you know what I did?" Chloe asked, referring to last night's leap of faith. She scoffed. "Course you do, you're psychic."

The older woman smiled. "My gift told me nothing. I know only what I see in your eyes. You went to him?"

Chloe smiled besides herself. "Something to that effect."

Understanding shot into the woman's deep brown eyes, eyes only shade's darker than Chloe's.

Chloe silently stuttered before getting out, "He just came out of nowhere," She didn't see the need to call his name. "He just came down and scooped me in his arms and then it was '12 o'clock am'."

Chloe looked at Stella, willing her to say something, but she remained silent. This left Chloe feeling cheated. She was never this open to people. She didn't take well to crying before strangers either. "Please tell me everything you know." Chloe begged her, after all, knowing was half the battle.

Stella gave a small smile. "I told you all I know yesterday. It has not changed." But there was a gleam in her eyes.

Chloe felt her emotions were on a see-saw, as her sadness once again began to turn to anger. She checked herself though, this would be the last time Stella would see her vulnerable if she had a say.

In as collected a voice as even Lionel Luthor could muster, Chloe said, "I may be an idiot like the rest of this town, believing in your visions as I do. But I at least am not a fool."

For the first time, Stella looked… well, ignorant.

"You may refuse interviews Stella, but you can't get past the law. I saw your statement in the police report about the missing little boy. Oddly enough, it seemed you slightly 'over-saw' some details. Details which never happened."

Taking in Stella's look, an odd mix of annoyance and compassion, she continued. "It seems clear to me that while you are truly… talented (at least it wasn't as corny as gifted or sighted), your premonitions aren't etched in stone. And once I find out how, I am going to change _your_ idea of _my_ destiny."

**Part Two**

If Lex didn't know better, he'd think he missed Chloe. Lex didn't go around missing people.

It was the second day of the New Year and already he was breaking resolutions. Granted he was new with the whole concept of resolutions, never being a person to be weak of self-control he kept wondering if there was a trial-period to the whole thing, something along the lines of him being able to turn it in for a new one if the old one was defunct.

The problem was that breakfast wasn't the same this morning without her, and it wasn't because of any special bond or feeling that had developed. _Please (that would be way too fast for this story)_. It was because the sight of her face ballooning with food was a much more pleasant one than that of his father's.

It's not as if he hadn't dined with girls before, it was just that they usually didn't eat until his eyes were averted, and if he had been any less intelligent, he would have begun to wonder if the sex ate at all. He had come to the conclusion that of course they did, they just did it alone.

Luckily, the rest of his day went much better than the first meal. He was met with little objections to his plans, it seemed his influence outside of his father's name was beginning to pull some heavy weight.

It had been a struggle for him to bring LexCo. to a place where people no longer believed he was just trying to snuff Daddy, or felt it was just another wing of the big LuthorCorp. conglomerate. Though still a sardine to his father's marlin, LexCo. was a fast-eating shape-shifting sardine, making its way up to tuna status before the blink of an eye.

The fact that instead of concentrating on the layout before him, he was thinking about their conversation in the car, didn't bother Lex so much as the points of the conversation he found most interesting. Those were the points in which he flirted almost unrepentantly with the overly mature seventeen year old.

It didn't really surprise him. You see Lex usually found himself attracted to (whoa horsy) women who were intelligent. But this intelligence was usually gained through intense university study and avid real world sophistication.

Chloe, she seemed to have an élan all her own. One shaped between the very folds of her eyelids. Perhaps that was what was so endearing.

Despite all this, Lex didn't feel worried. Why should he, it's not as if he was attracted to her. He was just intrigued. He loved reading beneath the surface. And it didn't help that the surface was bright and pink and pretty with charismatic brown eyes. It just made the study all the more easy on his eyes.

Dammit!

He was going to keep his resolution. He would not try to change it in for a new and improved, more tolerable version. He would stick to it. Under no uncertain circumstances would he be inviting Chloe for Blue Mountain Peak Coffee.

_Did you like it, if you did let me know. We shallow people (fanfic. writers) thrive on praises (reviews). I will try to update soon as I know it makes a few people happy. _


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